Chapter 4.

"J, c'mon we have to go!" screamed what sounded like Becca outside, pounding on my door. I turned around to look at my clock, and it was already ten o'clock. "Coming B!" I shouted as I jumped out of bed. I rushed over to the door to let Becca in. "I told you to set an alarm," said Becca. "I know, I'm sorry I was just so tired," I said. I quickly took a shower while Becca started throwing my clothes into my suitcase. By the time I was out of the shower and dressed, Becca had all of my stuff packed, and we were out the door.

As we went down to the lobby, we were greeted by my father, Luka, and Jesse. "Good morning" said my father as we approached them. "I didn't think you would be joining us". "Well, we were kind of forced to go, so we don't really have much of a choice" I said. "Nevertheless Jenny, we're happy you both are joining us" said Jesse. I never quite realized how attractive Jesse's voice was. I could listen to him speak for hours and never get bored of it. What am I thinking? I could never get a chance with him. He's way too professional for me…

"Well, we should be on our way" said Jesse motioning us to the car. I looked outside to see not just a regular taxi, but a limousine. "Is that a?" said Becca. "Yeah…" I said mouth a gape. We stared at the vehicle, seeing our reflections in the shiny steel frame. We both had seen limousines before, but we had never actually been in them. My father definitely had the money to buy one, but he always tried to keep my life semi-normal growing up.

"Goodbye girls, please stay in touch" said my father. "Wait… you're not going?" I said hesitantly. "No Jenny, I thought it would be best not to tell you. It is better if I stay here" said my father. "Henry, I didn't tell her you weren't going… that's my fault" said Luka. "It's alright Luka, Jenny you will be fine, I have some of my finest men looking out for you. You're an adult. You don't need to be worried about me. I'll be safe here" said my father. "You have to promise me, you'll call me every night" I said holding back tears. "You have to promise". "I pinky promise" said my father, holding out his pinky finger laughing. When I was younger I always made my father make me pinky promises. I felt as if they held a stronger meaning, so he still uses them when he makes a promise to me. "I love you so much, you will be fine" said my father as he held his arms out for me to hug him. "I love you too" I said, choking on my words. I let go of my father, and he reached out to hug Becca as well since her father was overseas with business. "Now you girls don't give my boys too much trouble" said my father, winking at us. "You don't need to worry about us," said Jesse. "Yeah, we'll be fine" chimed in Luka.

Jesse held the door open for me, and Luka held the opposite side open for Becca. "Goodbye father!" I shouted out the window. "I love you!" "I love you too girls" shouted my father. The driver took off, heading towards the airport. "So this is awkward," I said to Becca in the back seat. "I know, I hope they can't hear us back here," said Becca. I couldn't help to notice how good-looking Jesse was from the back seat. The way he carried himself was just so… intimidating. I didn't realize I was staring at him until Becca elbowed me in the ribs again. I winced and scolded Becca for hitting me so hard.

"Jenny are you okay?" said Jesse concerningly. "Um… yeah I'm fine. Becca accidently stepped on my foot" I said. Becca, trying to hold in her laughter from my embarrassing outburst couldn't contain herself, and started bellowing out laughing. "Becca, what's making you laugh so hard?" said Luka. "Um… nothing. I just remember a joke J told me" said Becca. "I could listen to that laugh all day" said Luka, not realizing what he said until after the fact. Becca and I sat in the back seat, bewildered about what was just said. "Well we are here" said Jesse, breaking the awkward silence. We arrived at the airport, ten minutes before our flight. "Hey Jesse… it says on my ticket that we only have ten minutes to board… how are we going to get through in time to make it?" I said concerned. "Sunshine, you clearly have no clue who I am," said Jesse, laughing. Well now I know who the notes are from. We walked to the ticket counter, Jesse motioned Luka over, and talked to him while we were still a good distance behind.

"Hey how about we go get something to eat really fast, just a snack for the plane" said Luka. "I'm fine with that," said Becca. "Of course you are," I said smiling at Becca. "What do you have in mind Luka?". "C'mon, let's go look for a vendor". "Wait what about Jesse?" I said. "Won't he want something too?". "He already told me what to get him," said Luka. We walked over to a small store, and got chips, cookies, candy, and a soda for the trip. "It's a really long flight, so go ahead and get whatever you guys want," said Luka. "And don't hold back, the airplane food is nasty" he laughed.

We headed to the terminal and tried to find Jesse. "We shouldn't have left, now we have no idea where he is," I said to Becca. "Aww getting all mushy J?" said Becca. "No, I'd be concerned for the wellbeing of anyone, and I don't entirely want to miss our flight" I said. Just then, we saw Jesse at the counter where we left him. "Are you guys ready to go?" said Jesse as he walked towards us. "I suppose so," I said. "I've never really been a fan of planes". We got to the doorway, and the lady ushered us into the plane. There was no one else on the plane. I looked down at my watch, to find we were fifteen minutes late for our flight. Could they be putting us on a different flight? Where are we going now? "Jesse… where are all of the other people? Did we miss our flight?" I said. "No Jenny, this is our flight. We're flying on my plane".

Awestruck, I stared at Jesse. "Wait, this is your plane? How do you even buy a plane?" I said. "Yes, this is my plane. You buy things with money Jenny" said Jesse laughing at my previous question. I rolled by eyes at him and continued to walk forward. We got to our seats, Luka ushered Becca into the seat next to his, so I was forced to sit next to Jesse. I could feel my face turning red as I went to sit down.

"Passengers please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts; we will be taking off shortly" said the pilot over the intercom. I sat in my seat and fastened my seatbelt. I held on tight to my arm rests as the plane took off. I've never liked flying. I'm not afraid of planes, but if I had the choice to either drive across the country or fly, I would take driving every time.

The five-hour flight time started to get tedious. I motioned to get Becca's attention, but she was sound asleep. Becca knew I would get dizzy on the plane, so she made sure she had motion sickness pills in her bag. "I knew I should've taken them before I got on" I muttered to myself. "What was that Jenny?" said Jesse. "Uh... nothing... I just need to get Becca" I said, not making eye contact. "Luka, wake up Becca please" said Jesse. "No it's okay, you don't need to wake her up!" I said. I could feel my face getting red with embarrassment.

"Luka, if you could just please pass me Becca's purse" I said. "Sure thing," said Luka. Becca's purse was underneath her seat. Luka reached down to grab the purse, grabbed the handle, and suddenly WHAM! Becca kicked Luka so hard he fell out of his chair. "Luka what are you doing!!?" shouted Becca. "Becca I need your purse," I said. "What for?" said Becca. "Oh wait, don't answer that". Becca passed her purse to Luka, then to Jesse, then to me. I moved around all of the contents of her purse: her contacts, Chapstick, a pack of gum, wallet, a pen and some perfume. But still, no pills. I started to get frantic. I took a piece of gum and the pen out of her purse. On the gum wrapper, I wrote: Where are the pills? "Luka could you hand Becca her purse back please?" I said, handing the purse to Jesse. "Of course" said Luka, extending his hand.

"Becca, I think your water bottle is starting to leak," I said, winking. "Oh crap really?" she said, not noticing my wink. She reached in and pulled out my note. She quickly scanned over the note and reached in her pocket. She looked at me and pointed to her jacket pocket. Jesse and Luka were deep in conversation, I motioned at Becca to slide the package across the aisle. She put the package on the ground, then gave it a quick shove. The package glided across the floor but was stopped by the flight attendants foot. "Oh excuse me sir, did you drop this?" said the woman to Jesse. "No, that isn't mine," he said. "B that must have fallen out of your purse" I said quickly. "Here I can take it". "No problem ma'am" said the woman. Embarrassed, I grabbed the package, and slipped it in my pocket. "Are you feeling okay Jenny?" asked Jesse. "Oh me? Yeah I'm fine" I said as sweat ran down my face. "Never better". "Ma'am" said Jesse, as he signaled the flight attendant. "Can we have a bottle of water over here?". "Of course sir" she said as she reached in her cart of beverages. "Here you go". She handed Jesse the bottle of water and he handed it over to me. "That was unnecessary, but thank you," I said. "No problem" said Jesse. I tried to sleep, but it didn't work. About an hour later, the pilot came over the intercom. "Attention passengers, the plane will be landing shortly". "Phew" I said. Becca slept nearly the whole flight, so thankfully she didn't witness my utter humiliation. Although Jesse and Luka both did.

As the plane landed, I grabbed my arm rests and held on. What I didn't know, Jesse's hand was on my arm rest. While I grabbed my arm rest, I grabbed Jesse's arm as well. I didn't realize that until the plane stopped, and I looked down to see the nail marks in Jesse's huge, muscular arm. "Did I do that?" I said, praying that he didn't notice. "It's alright, I don't mind," Jesse smiled.

We got off the plane as fast as we could. I enlightened Becca about what took place during the ride. "You did not grab his arm!" shouted Becca. "Shhh B you're making a scene" I said trying to quiet her down. "It was humiliating. I wanted to curl up and die!" I said. We picked up our luggage and headed for the door. Waiting outside the airport was another limousine. "Are you kidding me?" I said quietly to Becca. "Who even is this guy?" Becca said. We walked to the vehicle, Jesse getting my door, and Luka getting Becca's. We piled in the car, and we were off.